THE BEST EVER??

1992 rolled around and Cliff Christl of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel sent out requests to 300 current and former coaches, players and sportswriters to submit their thoughts on who they thought where the best ever in Wisconsin high school football. The voters were to help create an all-time first team and second team of great players and recognize the top coaches. The voting was to be done on the basis of a player’s high school career and not what they did in college or if they made it to the pros. Some voters didn’t keep post high school graduation efforts out of their lists. The lists were to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Milwaukee City Conference in a 1993 article and it would take time to collate the replies. A few schools had been playing football for several years before the conference was formed in 1893, most notable Delafield St. John’s Military Academy and Madison High School. From the polling of the group a first and second all-time squad was finalized along with the best coach of the last 100 years.

There were a total of 44 names on the two all-time offensive, defensive teams plus a kicker and a punter for each of the two teams and 136 other names were on the honorable mention list. A few players made it onto the first or second team at one position and then on the honorable mention list for another spot. Tom Straka of Madison West (1977) made the first team defense as a defensive back and the second team as a receiver. Todd Gregoire of De Per Pennings (1973) made the second team as a kicker and honorable mention as a linebacker. Bob Petruska of Lake Mills (1946) earned the spot as the punter on the all-time second squad and honorable mention as a running back. Jim Melka (1979) of West Allis Hale made the honorable mention list at running back and linebacker while Jum Strzykalski (1940) of Milwaukee South Division was also named to the running back and linebacker spots on the honorable mention squad. All fine players as were those others who only were mentioned once (Hopefully I didn’t miss anyone else). Well, I did find another who stood out and he’s what the blog is about.

Now, the player who received the most overall votes and was listed as the Player of the Century was Kenosha (1950) native Alan Ameche. I believe that Ameche was a great fullback with some decent speed. He led Kenosha to the mythical state title, then won the Heisman at Wisconsin and was a good NFL player. He took a handoff from Baltimore Colt quarterback Johnny Unitas to run into the end zone to win the NFL title in 1958 in a sudden death final, billed at that time as the greatest NFL game ever. He wasn’t in the league of fullbacks such as Cleveland’s Jim Brown (Who in my thoughts, no one was or ever has since been as good of a running back) or the Packers Jim Taylor. But he was solid. NFL back. I’m old and have watched a lot of pro games on TV and regretfully, only two in person and I never remember watching Ameche. But I did see a lot of Brown and Taylor.

When I was doing my blogs on the 1950’s I spent a lot of time going through the Kenosha News newspaper. While Ameche was in an era where high school players went both ways, I failed to find notations about his defense. He was probably good but maybe not as notable as a few others on that great 1950’s team. Yet, I still listed him as the Player of the Decade. Looking over the list of great players from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story one player did stand out above all others. That was Waukesha’s John Anderson.

John Anderson…Waukesha Freeman 1973

The All-Century Team listed Anderson as a first team linebacker and on the first team offense as an end. He was the only player noted to make both first team squads. On top of that he made honorable mention as a kicker and as a punter. Again, the only player to make the listings in four categories and his voting status was nearly 20-years after he played his last high school football game. He did go on to have a very good career at the University of Michigan where he played as a linebacker. He was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers. He ended his career as having the most tackles by a Packer and he tied Ray Nitschke with 25 career interceptions. But I’m keying in on his high school days.

So, what made so many people vote for John Anderson in four different categories?

First, he was a tremendous blocker on the Waukesha offensive line as well as a very good receiver…33 receptions for 416 yards and nine touchdowns. Standing 6’3, 205 he could have had many more receptions if the team passed a lot and also tossed the ball downfield more often. But, in a run first-offense he was outstanding. On defense he made 86 tackles, recovered three fumbles, forced seven fumbles, intercepted five passes, knocked down six passes and blocked two kicks while sitting out many games shortly after halftime due to the team being so far ahead. As a kicker he was 43 of 48 on extra points and four of six on field goals, including a 45-yarder. Overall, he scored 111 points on the season. And while the Freeman newspaper didn’t report punting game totals in their box score’s he is thought to have averaged between 41-42 yards per punt and had the knack of placing the ball just so there would be no return or out kick the coverage.

Maybe his top game was the second of the season, a 43-0 rout of Wauwatosa East in which he caught five passes for 70 yards including a 33-yard touchdown, returned an interception for 60-yards for a score, recovered a fumble and returned it 18-yards for a touchdown, he was 5-6 on extra points, kicked a field goal and made 12 tackles. This as his team overcame six of their own fumbles.

Four weeks later in a 34-6 win over Wauwatosa West, an undefeated team that was 5-0 coming into the game and ranked #10 in the UPI poll Anderson twice kicked his Blackshirts team out of danger when stopped in their own territory with punts of 57 and 54 that could not be returned by West. A few minutes later on defense he helped stop the West team by forcing two turnovers that led to Waukesha scoring.

The 1973 season was magical for Waukesha for the first seven games. They had defeated Wauwatosa West to drop them from being in contention for the conference title but game eight was a matchup against South Milwaukee, a game neither team would forget. The Blackshirts had given up only three touchdown, 20 points, and had five shutouts in their first seven games. South Milwaukee was good but not spectacular as the two faced each other. The Rockets turned miscues into opportunities they just outplayed Waukesha, 54-35. Kevin Kuckevar for the Rockets scored four times on a 70-yard punt return, a 65 and a 63-yard pair of scoring runs and a 65-yard reception. John Luby had an 85-yard kickoff return for another South Milwaukee score. The Blackshirts won their final game and did finish #6 in the UPI final poll but the loss in game eight was a heartbreaker. You can see all the scores in my June 7, 2021, blog on the great Waukesha teams…” Waukesha-1964-1976”.

As the season ended Anderson was getting a lot of recognition for his great senior season. First, he was named Player of the Year the Suburban conference and earned honors as an end, linebacker and kicker. Next, he was the Waukesha County Player of the Year in the Freemans ratings. Then he was named Player of the Year on the Milwaukee Sentinel All-Area Team and that was followed by earning All-State honors in both final listings by both the UPI and AP polls. In the UPI poll he was listed as Honorary Captain.

He was more than just a football player. He was named All Suburban conference in 1973 as a junior and 1974 as a senior in basketball. He again earned honors by the Waukesha Freeman newspaper as the county’s basketball Player of the Year (He averaged 14 points and 12 rebounds as a power forward) in 1974. Besides starting three seasons for coach Ken Holub on the football team he also started three seasons for coach Dick Hughes on the Blackshirts basketball team. Anderson was a very good tennis player and was the teams MVP as a senior leading his team to the state tournament. The Milwaukee Pen and Mike Club (An organization of writers and broadcasters) named him the 1974 Player of the Year.

As a junior in 1972, Jim Anderson earned All-Suburban Conference for football as he caught 16 passes for 250 yards and four scores while kicking 25 of 28 extra points and two field goals.

Because of his overall talent, a guy who it seemed to be that he could do just about anything on the football field he gained a lot of notice and caught the attention of voters on the All-Century team. Now, thirty years after the article and as I’ve noted in other blogs and my book that there were a lot of players who could “do it all.” But maybe, just maybe, John Anderson is/was truly the best ever.

SEARCHING THE RECORDS TO SET THINGS RIGHT

Looking for the correct answers as I explain an extensive search.

History -like any person’s story-it’s messy. It doesn’t always fit into neat boxes. About 30 years ago I was at the Milwaukee Public Library sifting through old newspapers…The Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Sentinel in particular, when I happened upon a record that I found to be very important. This is a tail about that record and confirming it.

A story in the Sentinel in 1963 mentioned that a player from Pewaukee, Charles Page, was a very good running back and an expert defender on defense. So good defending against the pass that he had 18 interceptions that year.WOW.18 interceptions in a single season! That record went to the top of that category on my records list I saw in a 1964 story that he had 13 more that year for a career total of 31. That was the career record until a few years later I discovered that Roy Gruel of Glenwood City ended his career, 1981-84, with 33. In 2003 Jake Owens of Stevens Point Pacelli tied Gruel with 33. That all fit into “neat boxes.”

About 2009 or 2010 I received an email from a person who said that he knew Charles Page. The person had found my records list on the WFCA web site, and he noticed Charles’ name. So, he asked Mr. Page about the record and Page said he had a few but he didn’t think it was that many. I told the reader that I would make time to look through the local papers for confirmation, but I also asked that he give Charles my email address and to contact me. Well, I never heard from Charles Page, and I never got around to looking deeper into the local newspapers. I got busy doing other things and when I didn’t hear back the record checking went into the back of my mind.

However, over the years every time I did updates and looked over the interception section I thought of that email from the reader. I lost his address to reconnect and I’m sorry for that.

Now, fast forward to July of this year, 2023. I was again at the in the downtown Milwaukee library and I was allowed to look at the real newspapers and not to have to resort to microfilm (THANKS MPL!). They will let you look at the old papers instead of microfilm if they are still in good condition. They have the Journal and Sentinel in big, heavy binders going back to when the papers were first printed in the 1800’s. I was trying to get info for a blog on Don Bosco high school and while turning the pages for October 1964 in the Milwaukee Journal I saw a small story about Charles Page and another player on the Pewaukee team. The article said that after the team’s first seven games Page ‘s rushing stats were 82-1007-12.3-14 with two more games to play. Impressive, even for a small school program and in only seven games. But in reading the story the other player mentioned was Don Strauss, listed as a superb defensive back. It said that he had intercepted 18 passes in 1963 and had 10 more in 1964 so far. To say that I was shocked was an understatement. How could this be? I was so sure that what I had written down on paper back in the 1990’s and then transferred to my computer files was correct. So, the hunt to get to the truth began.

First, I went to the Waukesha Public Library and looked up the sports pages from October and November 1963 and 1964 and found next to nothing about the two players. In later years the Waukesha Freeman newspaper would have recaps for the teams they covered. But in 1963 and 1964 the paper just mainly covered Waukesha High School and Catholic Memorial with scant attention to other schools in the county. An occasional story here and there about Muskego, Mukwonago or a Brookfield school but almost nothing on other teams. While that coverage would change in the future it didn’t help my search now. I looked for that papers All-Waukesha County football team. For 1963 there was nothing except that Charles Page was listed as honorable mention. The stories those days were low on statistical info for most players on the All-County team and the first and second teams were made up of only 11-players each. You would have thought that the 18 interceptions would have gotten him on the second team if not the first team. There was no mention of Don Strauss. I then looked at the 1964 All-County team and Charles Page was now listed on the second team. No final stats there, just his name, so his record is unfinished for my curiosity. Again, Don Strauss isn’t mentored. With 28 career interceptions from the Milwaukee Journal story, you would think that there would be some mention, honors.

Next, on to the Pewaukee Public Library to check out the high school’s old yearbooks. I looked at the 1963, 1964 and 1965 yearbooks and found one page with the team picture and the record for the seasons scores and the next page had pictures of the senior players. No story about the team. Dead end there. I followed up with a visit to the Hartland Public Library to look at the Lake County Reporter newspaper. Now this was a weekly paper, small in size but seemed to want to cover a large area. Maybe later the paper would do so but not in 1963 or 1964. I found two game stories for the 18-games Pewaukee played in those years and very little about a small school next to the town, Arrowhead. In fact, while the paper covered news from Pewaukee, Delafield, Merton, Okauchee Lake, Nashotah, Chenequa and North Lake there very little football coverage. No pre-season previews and no season ending recaps. Of the only two stories that I found on Pewaukee they were from 1964. A story similar to the one in the Milwaukee Journal mentioning Page but nothing about Strauss. This was an article also mentioning the upcoming game against Kewaskum and Homecoming in particular. Another dead end.

So, I decided to email the principal, vice-principal and the athletic director at Pewaukee. I explained my plight and wanted to know if they knew the interception records or any alumni info on the two players. No response but that isn’t a surprise since it’s summer and they probably aren’t checking the school emails. Their possible contact with either Charles or Don was very slim. Schools also don’t often carry records that far back with any consistency.

But five days after I sent my email, I decided to do two things. I had the next day off and I decided I would burn some gas. I live in Milwaukee, not far from the airport. Pewaukee’s final two games were against Kewaskum and Grafton. Small towns then…Kewaskum about 1,700 people, Grafton about 4,500 and West Bend about 12,000. Hartland was small as well with about 2.100 residents. My plan was to go to the West Bend library to look up any info about the Pewaukee vs. Kewaskum game in that city’s newspaper. Kewaskum was only about nine miles from West Bend in those days and had no local paper. I would then go to Grafton and take a chance that the newspaper there would have relevant info. I was willing to hunt down my needed info. However, my plans sort of changed when I did a Google search the night before my trip of Don Strauss

I had done one search earlier, before I emailed the high school and only got 253 links to obituaries for various men from around the country named Charles Page. I never had done one for Don Strauss. When I did, I hit the jackpot. Unlike Page I only found one Google obituary for a man named Don Strauss. In that obituary I found that Don Strauss was born in Milwaukee County in 1947. After graduation he ended up in Florida as a firefighter for the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department where he worked for 21-years. He passed in 1995 at age 47 and had a brother still living back in Pewaukee at the time of his death. That info didn’t help with the interception record though but I now knew a bit more on Don Strauss than I had on Charles Page. When I did my Google search I had just put in Strauss’ name and Pewaukee WI. Google offered me a lot more options but no Don Strauss in Pewaukee so, at first, I clicked on the obituary option and got the above info. I took obituary out of the search and came up with, surprise, the Pewaukee High School football records lists…Records - Individual & Team (pewaukeefootball.org) First, I found that they credited Charles Page with an even 1,200 yards rushing in 1964 with an even 12.0 yards per carry. With two games to go and the info based on the Milwaukee Journal story plus the one in the Lake County Reporter that means he only carried 18-times in the last two games for 193-yards. I have been able to find the scores of those two games, Kewaskum was a 40-0 win and Grafton was a 20-26 loss as per the yearbook. The 193-yards seemed suspect to me. Here’s why. A look at the Grafton News Graphic newspaper said that going into the game between the two schools that Page had 1,070 yards going into the final game and another story on the game had him rushing 24 times for 85 yards so that doesn’t add up to 1,200 yards. Plus, if the Journal story was correct then the 82 carries plus the 24 in the Grafton game would have given him 106, not including what he had in the Kewaskum game.

However, the News Graphic mentioned another player, Tony Lorscheidt who ran wild against Kewaskum, scoring five times and twice against Grafton where he gained 70-yards on 15 carries. In the pre-game story between Pewaukee and Grafton, where the above 1,070 season yards were mentioned, it was mentioned that Lorscheidt was scoring a lot of points in conference play. Did that also mean that Page’s 1,070 yards were in conference play only? Could the 14 season interceptions in Pewaukee’s records be only for conference games? None of the true totals, doing a newspaper game-by-game search, can be found except for their opener against Burlington St. Mary’s. That was a 7-0 win for Pewaukee, and I did find that St. Mary’s did throw two interceptions and one that cut a drive short was hauled in by Don Strauss. Page didn’t score in the game but had a 57-yard run to set up the only score by Tony Lorscheidt. I got the story from the Racine Journal Times. Small town papers just didn’t fully cover most schools or post a box score of football stats. If there were we could get a better feel for what the real numbers are.

Looking down farther on the Pewaukee records I find that in 1963 Don Strauss is credited with 14 interceptions, not 18 and there are no career totals. He is credited with a 101-yard interception return against Campbellsport (The Pewaukee records has Campbellsport spelled with only one L) in 1964. Since the Journal said Strauss had 10 interceptions so far after the first seven games in 1964, he may have had more against his last two opponents.

Here is my analysis on the subject:

While I trust what most newspapers print, they do make mistakes…either their error or what is reported. Numbers can be out of order. BUT, if a coach reports 18 interceptions as opposed what the school records show, who is correct? I really don’t know but I have made changes in the records. Plus, a later story from the Journal had Page with 13 for 1964. So, what’s right? I’ve made some corrections to my lists.

I have removed the name of Charles Page from the interception records and replaced it with the name of Don Strauss. Strauss is now listed tied with another Pewaukee player, Ron Anderson (1967), for the number two spot on the single season record and Larry Lusness of Osseo from 1953 is on the top spot. I have put Strauss at the number three spot on the career interceptions list even though the Pewaukee web page records don’t show career records.

So, there you have it. I am about to send the updated records list to be posted soon on the WFCA records page so you can see the official changes and a few other updates.

Your comments?

MILWAUKEE DON BOSCO…THE MILWAUKEE CATHOLIC CONFERENCE MID-1960’S POWERHOUSE

Over in St. Francis the Catholic Archdiocese seminary for Milwaukee in the mid-1940’s was flush with so many attendees that no new applications were being accepted. This was a far cry 25 years later when applications had drastically slowed. The Archdiocese invited the religious order, the Marianist brothers and priests from St. Louis to come and establish a school. They first formed Milwaukee Messmer on the north side of Milwaukee and then, seeing a need for a school on the south side established an all-boys high school at 12th and Becher Street in a former public grade school that had been built at the turn of the century. Over on 5th Street and Mitchell St. Stanislaus High School, a co-ed campus, changed its name to Notre Dame.

That new high school became Don Bosco which opened in 1945 with freshmen and sophomores in an elementary school building built at the turn of the century and formerly owned by the Milwaukee Public School system. It may have been a plan for the Archdiocese at that time to begin to close Pio Nono/St. Francis Seminary High School and have the boy’s move to Don Bosco. That didn’t happen well when St. Francis closed in 1946. Many of the 6-2-0 (5-2-0 in conference play) 1946 St. Francis team went to schools closer to their Milwaukee homes. The first graduating class was in 1948 but in 1947 the school played their first year of varsity football going 1-5-1 and played only fellow teams in the Catholic Conference which they had just joined. Phil Schrempf was their coach for the first two years. The 1947 varsity season though started with a whimper and a bang. The whimper was the season opener as they lost their very first game to Cedarburg, 19-7, scoring a touchdown in the waning minutes. The bang came in game two. That’s when they posted a 7-0 upset win over the 1946 Catholic Conference champion Racine St. Catherine’s. Against St. Catherines Don Bosco couldn’t mount any sort of a drive during the game, but their defense kept the Angles out of the end zone. The Don’s recovered three fumbles, intercepted a pass and stopped the Angles twice on fourth down tight pass coverage resulting on the Racine team turning the ball over on downs. In fact, St. Catherine’s as a team outgained Don Bosco 2-1 in overall yardage and picked up 16 first downs to 2. The lone score came when Don Klein, the Bosco center, playing linebacker on defense, returned a St. Kate’s interception for a 40-yard score in the fourth quarter. This would be the team's only win in 1947.

The next year, 1948, the two teams again opened the conference schedule, and the results were greatly reversed as the Angles pounded the Don’s 44-19. While the team was one of the doormats of the conference the team finished slightly above St. John Cathedral, 1-4-0 in conference play and 1-5-1 overall. Not only did Don Bosco beat the 1946 champion team (St. Catherine’s) they tied the 1947 champ, Messmer, to give that school their only blemish. Next season, 1948 they went 2-6-1. For some reason in 1948 the only team in the conference to play all of the other teams was Racine St. Catherine’s. In the seven-team conference the other team only played five of the other six members that season. Don Bosco finished tied with Milwaukee Notre Dame for last place. Both had 1-4 records in the conference. Don Bosco ended the 1949 year with an overall 2-6-0 record under the coaching of Marv Bell.

The school under Schrempf (1947-48), Bell (1949-51) and Robert Regent (1952) were only 15-30-2. In 1953 a new coach, Dan Fleming, brought a new life into the program, giving the school their first conference championship as they tied with Racine St. Catherine’s. The Racine team had led the conference all season but in their final game, against Don Bosco, the Angles fell, and fell hard to the Don’s 37-7.

The next season, 1954, they won the conference outright as there was a three-way tie for second between St. Catherine’s, Pius and Marquette. This truly was a strange season in the conference.

Don Bosco would have an overall 7-1-0 record; St. Catherine’s had a 5-3-0 season, losing a non-conference game to Green Bay Catholic Central then in conference losing to Pius and Marquette but they did give Don Bosco their only loss in game two, 13-14. Meanwhile, Pius lost to Don Bosco and then was upset by Notre Dame. Marquette also lost to Don Bosco and to Pius. The only non-conference game for Don Bosco, a 42-6 win was over a smaller school, Kenosha St. Mary, the precursor to St. Jospeh, the new school that opened a few years later. I cannot find any reference to coach Dan Fleming before or after his two-season stint at Bosco, but I feel confident that wherever he went he was a successful teacher and coach.

Fleming’s replacement was Edgar “Ed” Callahan who spent five seasons as the head coach, 1955-59 going 28-12-1. Don Bosco had a 7-1-1 season in his initial season of 1955 and then a 7-1-0 year in 1957. They finished second in the Catholic those two years and in the middle of the pack the other three going 4-4-0 in 1956 and 5-3-0 in each of the 1958 and 1959 seasons.

For coach Ed Callahan, his story is much more widely known. Born in 1929 in Youngstown, Ohio he attended Ursuline High School where he was a very good tackle. Standing 6’1, weighing 225, Callahan graduated in 1946 and he was offered many scholarships, but he chose Marquette because he wanted to go to a Catholic Jesuit University. Graduating in 1951 with a B.A. in mathematics, Ed stayed on to get a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration in 1952. He then went to Don Bosco as a math teacher and an assistant coach for football and basketball, before replacing Dan Fleming as the top football man. A very principled man with high integrity he was, to say the least, a man that others thought highly of.

In 1960 he was recruited by a new school in Rockford Illinois to start the football and basketball program at Boylan Catholic High School which opened that year. In 1966 Don Bosco played Rockford Boylan and the Don’s beat the Titan’s 26-25. Ed stayed as the football and basketball coach plus the head of the math department until 1970 when he became the school’s principal. In 1971 he took the job as superintendent of the Rockford Area Catholic Schools and stayed until 1975. Because Ed had a reputation as a very trustful and knowledgeable man, he was asked by the State of Illinois to become the Assistant Secretary of State and then soon became director of Financial Institutions for the state of Illinois. Ed and several of his assistants righted a corrupt department and set the ship right to serving the state’s financial institutions. A life-long Democrat, Ed caught the attention of Republican President Ronald Reagan who, in 1981, asked him to serve as Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), another government organization that had suffered through poor direction during the Carter administration. Ed left in 1985 and started his own company, Callahan and Associates which became the leading provider of financial data to credit unions in the United States. He served in several other positions before retiring in 2002 and then passing in 2009. His successor at Don Bosco stayed 22-years (12 at Don Bosco and then 10 at Thomas More after Bosco merged with Pio Nono).

As mentioned in my September 21, 2021 blog: THE GREAT 1949 ST. CATHERINE’S TEAM (THE GREAT 1949 RACINE ST. CATHERINE’S TEAM (wihifootball.com)). Jim Haluska was a much talented quarterback for his high school team as well as setting records at the University of Wisconsin. He played briefly as a pro for the Chicago Bears and then spent time with the Racine Raiders, a semi-pro football team. In 1960 he replaced Ed Callahan at Don Bosco and this started a Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame career. Besides playing for the Raiders after leaving the Bears, I’m not sure what Haluska did before taking over at Don Bosco as his WFCA H-O-F profile says he started there in 1960 teaching physical education and coaching (James Haluska - Don Bosco / St. Thomas More / Pius XI / Catholic Memorial (wifca.org)) other profiles mention that he also taught world history. It is known that in 1959 the fledgling Los Angeles Chargers (Before they relocated to San Diego in 1961) of the newly formed American Football League (AFL) approached Haluska to play for them. He turned down the offer and took the Don Bosco job in 1960 Also, that year, Haluska split time with coaching the Racine Raiders. He quit that position at the start of the 1961 season to devote his work to Don Bosco.

Jim Haluska at Wisconsin (From his Badger HOF profile)

A few notes about Haluska’s first year at Don Bosco. They won the season opener against Whitefish Bay Dominican. In week two they faced a very tough Milwaukee Country Day (Now closed and later it merged with Milwaukee University School) under the direction of WFCA Hall of Fame coach Kenneth Laird. Country Day had an 18-game winning streak at the time the two schools battled, and it was a barn burner. A 34-33 win for Country Day won by them very late in the contest. That win gave the school their 19th consecutive win and that would continue until they lost after two more victories to end with a 21-game streak. In game four Haluska faced his former high school coach, Eddie Race as St. Catherine’s edged Don Bosco out, on the last play of the game to win 28-26. The final game of note for 1960 was the 4-6 loss to Pius. The Pope’s scored on their first drive and the Don’s defense held them scoreless for the rest of the game. The Don Bosco defense was all over Pius holding their opponent to less than 100-yards, yet they couldn’t do much better, only scoring the two safeties.

After going 5-3-0 in his first season, things paid off for his Don’s as they went 7-1-0 and tied for the Catholic Conference title with Milwaukee Pius XI., a team that Don Bosco lost to 7-0. 1960 and 1961 were strange years for the Catholic Conference. They had 10 schools in the conference but were split into two divisions…the White was made up of the six bigger schools and the Gold held the four smaller schools. These two years were the only time in the overall 46-year history of the conference that there were two divisions. The Catholic would start in 1930 with five schools and later grow to as many as 11 members for football before contracting through mergers and closers and then the creation of the Metro Conference in 1974

Conference standings for 1961

It’s interesting that the White Division teams only counted the games that they played against other members of the White group in their overall conference records. But take a look at the Gold Division. Catholic Memorial and St. John Cathedral also played three teams in the White Division for six total conference games while Notre Dame and Dominican only played three games within the Gold Division and their other games were against non-Catholic Conference teams.

After the success of 1961 the Don’s finished in third place in 1962 and then tied for fifth place in 1963. 1964 rolled around and many of the underclassmen from the year before had gained much needed experience and Haluska’s players were ready to roll. The team opened with a 14-13 win over Oconomowoc before starting conference play as sophomore Mark Mulqueen led the way on the ground and Chip Grelach directed the offense. If you look at the “Coach Jim Haluska Wall of Champions” web site…Wall of Champions - St. Thomas More (tmore.org) a number of things mentioned there stand out to me. First, the name of Chet Gerlach…Chip was used by the newspapers so maybe Chip was a nickname. Second, the listing for the team’s record is 9-0-0 but a newspaper search shows it to be 8-0-0. I’m listing their 1964 schedule below. Tackle Ted Derynda earned first team All-Catholic Conference as well as first team All-State on the U.P.I. All-Private team as well as High School All-America. The Milwaukee Journal newspaper did mention in several stories and in the article on the All-Catholic Conference team that guards, not tackles, Tom Walczak and Tim Marola were in the first team. Marola also made All-State on the U.P.I. All-Private team. Several times the opposing coaches talked highly of these two guards in post- game interviews. Gerlach’s passing stats for the conference were 48-80-2-580-5 as he earned All-Catholic first team and fullback Jerry Jenders earned second team. Jenders picked up the slack when Mulqueen, who had scored three touchdowns against Pius in game two, was lost for the season late in that game with a broken leg. Jenders had a great game against Dominican, rushing for 111 yards on 20 carries while scoring three touchdowns. Against St. Joseph he showed his defensive prowess recovering two fumbles and making 12 tackles from his linebacker spot.

When asked about his coaching style Jim Haluska told the Milwaukee Journal that while with the Chicago Bear’s he came into contact with a coach from another team. He said he learned a lot from the Bears coach George Halas but even more in talking to Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown. For those who are don’t know Browns coaching history here’s a rundown. He coached high school ball at Massillon Washington, Ohio going 80-8-2, five state titles and also earned four mythical National Championship titles over nine seasons. He then moved on to become the head coach of Ohio State University from 1941-43 and then after World War II where he coached military team’s he helped found the Cleveland Browns in 1946 where he stayed until he was let go in 1963. He then founded the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968 and coached them until 1975 and remained as the team’s president until his death in 1991. While not universally liked he was an innovator for creating the modern face mask, using game film of opponents, created the draw-play, had a large staff of paid full-time assistants and he played a major role in breaking professional football’s color barrier. In the 1930’s his high school team was asked almost every season to play an additional game against a southern opponent, say Miami (FL) High or Knoxville (TN) High. He turned them down, losing much needed money for his school because the host school requested that he not bring his “negro” players. Check out his Wiki page: Paul Brown - Wikipedia

Like Brown, Haluska was a strict disciplinarian and used much of Browns terminology and methods. One was he ran ahead of his team out onto the playing field where most coaches just sauntered behind their squads. He ws their leader not a follower. Another coach who influenced him was Army’s Earl Blaik and Haluska utilized a version of Blaik’s Armey offense in what was called “the lonely end” offensive formation. I’m not sure how long he kept it in his playbook but in the 1964 variation his flanker, not end, Don Petchel was split 15-20 yards out from the rest of the team. He was one of the first coaches to utilize the “quick kick” on second down, not just once but often each season as the need appeared.

As you could see by looking at the 1964 schedule the Don’s didn’t score a lot as they beat their opponents with an adequate offense and a tough defense. 1964 was the first of four consecutive Catholic Conference titles, 1964-67. 1964 and 1966 (7-0-0 in conference) were shared titles and 1965 Don Bosco tied with Pius (With 6-1-0 records each). In 1967 they tied with Catholic Memoria (6-0-0)l but each team in the 11-team conference only played six opponents that season.

His six conference titles in the 1960’s was the most by any other team. (Pius had five solo or shared titles) Don Bosco copped a solo title in 1970. The school merged with Pio Nono in 1973 to become Thomas More and they tied with Marquette for the final Catholic Conference title, each with 7-1-0 records. Hulaska’s 1974 team went 9-0-0 but was not chosen to play in the WISAA playoffs. That was the schools last undefeated season but in 1976, 1977 and 1981 WISAA state championships as the squads went 10-1-0 each season.

Jim Haluska retired from Thomas More after the 1987 season but he didn’t retire from coaching. He moved to teach at Pius and assist a great coach, Bill Young, at Catholic Memorial. If you look at the first chart of the blog on the 1954 conference season or the chart of their 1964 season you will see that, as already stated, the team wasn’t a high-powered scoring machine.

In fact, I can only find a few Catholic Conference teams over the 47-year conference records that scored more than 200 points in conference play. Like other schools, Haluska’s Don Bosco rarely scored more than 160 points in conference play. Defense was the name of the game for the Catholic schools. A 7-0 or 14-12 score was often common. As examples, the 1962 champion Pius team went 6-0-1 and scored only 116 points and allowed 56 while fourth place Kenosha St. Joseph was 4-2-1 and scored only 71 and allowed 78. Fifth place Waukesha Memorial played an even season…3-3-1, scoring only 50 points and allowing 50 points in conference play. Not all seasons were like this, teams playing this type of ball but for some seasons this type of low scoring wasn’t uncommon.

In 2001 Haluska was inducted into the WFCA Hall of Fame. In addition to his three state titles his squads won 12 conference titles…6 each at Don Bosco and Thomas More…he compiled a 206-60-4 record at the two schools and helped influence others like Marquette’s Dick Basham and, as stated before, Catholic Memorial’s Bill Young plus other coaches from all around the state. His influence is still felt today after his passing on September 20, 2012.